Session at Work: November 2022
At the last stated meeting of the year, on November 30th, Session:
Heard with gratitude that giving increased significantly in November.
Continued to seek to discern the best uses for our Sharipen Bequests:
1. Determined that a minimum of $150,000 should be withdrawn from the Sharipen investments every year, regardless of the exact figure generated from the investments. This will assist the work of the Generosity Committee in recommending disbursements to support to witness of the church.
2. Instructed that $50,000 from the latest installment of the Sharipen bequest be assigned to the Memorial Funds. The Memorial Funds are commonly used for building maintenance and improvement projects.
Carried out one of our regular reviews of masking policy, which reads as follow “As it pertains to indoor worship, For the foreseeable future, HPC will use the New Jersey Department of Health | Communicable Disease Service | COVID-19 Weekly Surveillance Reports to guide our decision making regarding the need for masking. When the Community Level is reported as ‘High’ masks will be required indoors”.
Addressed Mental and Spiritual Health in the Community. Two important initiatives were approved:
1. Hopewell Presbyterian Church will sign a Memorandum of Agreement with Comprehensive Mental Health Services of Pennington for the latter to provide a mental health counselling program for families with children who are having mental health issues. In return for CMHS running the program with qualified professional staff, HPC will host this program in the church buildings, and cover the cost of professional counselling of $5000. This new program will be completely free to registrants, and marks an important step in our commitment to mental wellbeing in our community. This is possible because of the Sharipen Bequest Grants.
2. A “Lost Loved Ones Support Group” will be led by Joanne Pawleko at Hopewell Presbyterian Church in December 2022 through February 2023. No use fee will be charged for use of the church building by the Support Group, which is open to all.
Heard with great thanks that Kathy Schramm has agreed to be ordained and installed as a Deacon upon the vote of the congregation.
Forwarded to the Deacons a recommendation to support a family in Hopewell facing housing insecurity, as this is an excellent use of the $50,000 entrusted to the Deacons by the Sharipen Endowment.
Approved recommendations by the Generosity Committee for donations to the following:
1. $100,000 to Friends for Health in Haiti
2. $75,000 to Arm in Arm (a Trenton-based non-profit which “connects people in need of food, housing and job support with people who want to help”.
3. $75,000 to Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK).
As usual, Session closed its meeting by sharing gratitude for the work we are able to do. Session continues to give great thanks that the Sharipen Bequests are empowering this church do new things.
Ian Burrow
Clerk of Session